22nd Century are back starting 2012 with a huge bang and a new band member! Readers here is my interview with 22nd Century...

It has been a while since our last interview tell us about any new developments with 22nd Century???

We drank more.

I drank more than Zippy

We also played gigs and started writing new songs.

And we released a video and drank more.

Yeah but we were drinking when we did that.

You have a new band member tell the readers about him???

We hired Jesus!! Jesus plays guitar for 22nd Century.

Well sort of. We’re not religious or anything but we do have Jesus playing in our band.

That’s me. Jesus Krysler. My own band by the same name lost a member due to chronic employment and these cats called me up to fill in for a side project for the Japanese Earthquake victims. It came at the right time as I was a bit despondent and depressed. After that we just sort of jammed and it sounded good and everyone had fun.

What made the band to decide to become a four piece?

We felt it was necessary to reproduce our studio sound. The irony is that back in 2007 we spent almost a year auditioning potential lead guitarists. We briefly settled on one guy but kicked him out of the band after only two live performances. We’d been a three piece ever since. The funny thing is that we weren’t even looking for a fourth member (long since given up) but formed a fuck band to play Thin Lizzy covers for a St Patty’s Day gig. We asked Larry (Jesus Krysler) to be our second guitarist for the St Patty’s Day show and the rest is history. He is an amazingly good fit for us. Sometimes things just fall into place when you least expect them to!

Yeah, we auditioned tons of guys. This band originally started with Rob Lulic of Rymes with Orange on second axe but he wasn’t interested. I’ve always loved the two guitar sound. While being a three piece is honest and as reductive as we could go, the live sound speaks for itself. We’re actually covering some classic twin guitar songs like Detroit Rock City by Kiss as well as some Thin Lizzy (Gary Moore, Brian Downey, John Sykes, Snowey White) stuff. The sound is really new though. We bring a sort of neo-punk riff driven melody style mixed in with the melodic minors of classic hard rock with tons of energy.

The twin lead guitars brings tears to me eyes.

I think that happened when you ran out of beer?

oh yeah…. ??

How did you find your new player? Has he played in any other bands prior to 22nd Century???Punk Globe: I understand the band is writing new material for a new CD. Is this true?

Yes, we’ve started the long process. We expect to be ready to go into the studio in the early summer and have a finished product packaged by Jan 2013. Our goal is to do a full release once every two years so this would keep us on track.

Both Tim and I have full blown home recording studios so we’re tracking tons of ideas. Duane has some gear too so we can also work virtually.

We’re also finding it fun to revisit old covers. Bringing songs from the 1970’s into the current era, similar to the hip hop culture. It’s really hit or miss. Some stuff works, some doesn’t. None of us can sing like the BeeGee’s.

If you ever tell me to play BeeGee’s I quit. (laughs)

The one that I’m loving is a cover of Sweet’s “Little Willy” which we performed this month live for the first time. We’ve re-arranged the song and while it still retains some shoe shine, shimmy shuffle smile pop sounds it’s got a rock city madness about it.

Yeah – they’re like the last people on earth we would do. I used to think Hall and Oates was a breakfast cereal..

Is everyone involved with writing the new material?

More than you’d think. We steal ideas from anyone.

(laughs) Absolutely. We write as a group only this time will be a bit different. We have always operated as a democracy, which was very simple with three members. It may be a bit more complicated with four members but I’m sure the cream will continue to rise to the top!

Typically John Webster (credits: Aerosmith, Motley Crue, Metallica, Cher, The Cult) has a lot of influence on our final outcome.

Do you have a recording studio and producer in mind for the new CD?

We will most likely continue using John Webster (Cher, Aerosmith, REM, etc) as our producer. We were very happy with his work on the first two albums and are confident he will be able to deliver again. The studio we use is Mushroom Studios in Vancouver. This has generated a long list of top selling albums since it’s inception in the 1960s.

Having said that I’d also love to start recording some stuff in our home studios. Maybe put out a few singles.

I also understand that you recently released a new video. Am I right???

The new video is for the 3rd single off 2011’s “Where’s Howie” called “U Generation”.

We are pleased to launch it on Punk Globe’s Website!

World Premier on Punk Globe.com?

You read it on the radio here first!

Tell us about the new video???

U Generation is a post-modernistic, androgynous and agnostic examination of society’s ill conceived introspection of 3rd wave fringe culture, impregnated with a tensile-cohesive relationship model of dynamics between humans and nature.

Huh? What?

(cough!)

uhhh…

I meant it’s got some awesome shots of us playing!

yeah. Cool!

(laugh)

U Generation is a lost generation. The video is deliberately agnostic to narration or process. Every viewer will get a different feeling from it.

Tell us about your involvement with I Braineater?

Jim (the front man and brain behind Braineater) approached Susan Tabata (producer and director of Bloodied but Unbowed, the punk movie) a year and a half ago to re-form Braineater for Ron Reyes 50th birthday. She recommended he talk to Duane and after a few line-up changes, Zip, Duane and I ended up as the band.

We are very lucky to be involved with such an iconic local band with a great following. The gigs are always a blast and a real departure from what we do with 22nd Century!

Jim is an icon and when he steps on stage the world notices. We love the gigs.

Tim I must admit that after seeing you wearing your Punk Globe T-Shirt in a photo... It does indeed make you look like a former "Teenage Underwear Model" any thoughts?

People tell me that all the time. What can I say? It’s a great shirt! It’s also form fitting so shows off my six-pack nicely!?

I drank my 6 pack..

We’re just skinny guys in tights jeans playing guitars.

I also understand that you had a big show /benefit in January do you care to tell us about that?

This is our 3rd annual fundraiser to help build a school in rural Tanzania. We have helped raise over $40,000.00 so far and we raised over $10,000.00 for the project.

The school is amazingly modern with solar power, fresh drinking water and housing for the three teachers that will run the school. When it is finished in 2012, it will be the hub of the community. We feel very strongly that this will give generations of young kids a shot at breaking the bonds of poverty and enjoy a good life.

It’s crazy. All these kids have on their bucket list is education. Something we take for granted. Who would have figured out that a bunch of rockers from Vancouver would help build schools in Africa.

Any other shows or tours you would like to promote???

Yeah. We’re booked for the Princeton here in Vancouver in Feb. The dates are on the website. We’re also touring to the Island and are negotiating with promoters in Toronto, San Francisco and Europe.

Eastern Europe is probably where our biggest fan base is other than the UK and Germany. We’ve been released on two independent CD’s in Eastern Europe and have tons of regular followers over there. I also want to go to the UK because there are a bunch of wankers calling themselves 22nd Century and playing at gigs taking our fans. I’m gonna pull their plugs out and make them eat the cables if I see them. The nerve…

Also wanna do Whistler this spring.

Yep. Hit the slopes in the day, stage at night.

I can’t wait to see Zippy on skis.

YIKES!!

Can you give us any web addresses for readers to get more information on the band???

For sure. Our official site is at http://22ndcenturyofficial.com/.

We’re on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22nd_Century_(band) and on ReverbNation at
http://www.reverbnation.com/22ndcentury. There’s a bunch of other links from there.

I would like to thank you for the fun interview any last words for the readers??

Yeah! Read Punk Globe and prosper!

Ginger rocks! Don’t believe the mainstream Occupy Sesame Street!

It’s all good. You rock and so do you readers.

Stick to the roads, beware of the moor’s.